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Author Guidelines

Submission Guidelines for Authors

The BC Journal of Ecosystems and Management (JEM) welcomes contributions from practitioners, professionals, researchers, agencies, decision makers, and resource users on all topics relating to research and management of British Columbia's ecosystems. The pages of this journal are open to anyone who wants to write or read an informed, well-reasoned, and relevant article that will improve knowledge of provincial ecosystems and communities. Both original papers and previously published papers, which have been rewritten to meet the goals of JEM, are invited. Authors are encouraged to contact the Managing Editor before preparing and submitting a manuscript.

General GuidelinesJEM accepts three categories of papers.

Perspectives: Commentaries on the current or future status of natural resource management. Papers may state an opinion, offer a challenge, or present a thought-provoking idea on natural resource management issues.Length: 2000 - 3500 words.

Extension Notes: Focus on simplified syntheses of existing or new research, operational trials, case studies, preliminary field results, techniques, and new tools or technology. Papers may offer suggestions to improve ecosystem management activities or provide accounts of how research results have been adopted and placed into practice.Length: 1000 - 3000 words.

Research or Discussion Papers: Full-length scientific research and discussion papers that cover major research projects or programs, develop new concepts in natural resource management, or test ideas with data from field and laboratory experiments, observations, or simulations.Length: 2000 - 3500 words.

Authors may submit their manuscript electronically as a virus-free attachment. Text (including tables) should be provided as Microsoft Word files. If figures or illustrations form a part of the manuscript, please submit these separately as high-resolution (minimum 300dpi) JPEG or TIFF files, noting their desired position in the text with an appropriate caption and photo credit. Do not embed figures/images with the text in the word processing files, please upload them as supplementary files. If tables form a part of the manuscript, group these at the end of the document, noting their desired position in the text with an appropriate caption and source. All figures and tables should be referred to at least once in the text.

Style and Formatting GuidelinesJEM generally uses the British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range Research Program Style Guide and Author Manual as its publishing standard. Authors may consult this guide on-line at: www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/Docs/Mr/Mr041.htm.

TitleThe title of the article should convey the content of the paper in as few words as possible. Strive for titles that are 10 words or less. Please also provide a running head.

Author DocumentationInclude the names of all authors, along with their job titles and institutional affiliations, mailing address, city, postal code, and email address. Please place the primary author's contact information first.

AbstractThe abstract should appear at the beginning of the manuscript and contain 200 words or less. It should describe the manuscript topic in one sentence, if possible, and go on to briefly outline the manuscript's purpose, scope, conclusions, and management implications.

Headings and SubheadingsThese should cover all the major concepts in the manuscript and indicate the relationship between the sections. Try to use no more than three levels of headings. Use of a numbered heading hierarchy is recommended (i.e., 1 LEVEL ONE; 1.1 Level Two; 1.1.1 Level Three).

ReferencesUse the author-date system when citing published works or acknowledging unpublished material in the text. List these references alphabetically at the end of the manuscript. Try to keep explanatory notes to a minimum (maximum 10). For examples of bibliographic citation style, see the articles currently posted to the JEM "Issue-in-Progress" website (www.forrex.org/publications/jem/jem.asp).

Peer Review and PublicationIf the content of the article is acceptable, the Review Committee will assign the article to a peer review. In general, all papers are reviewed by three individuals with skills relating to the paper: two members of the natural resource community and an extension specialist. If publication is recommmended, the author then revises the manuscript according to the reviewers' comments. Revised papers are resubmitted and, if accepted, are published in the online "Issue-in-Progress" as soon as possible following English editing and typesetting. Authors have the opportunity to approve the final proofs of their papers. A copyright release is required of all papers accepted for publication. Print issues are produced as each online issue closes, generally three times per year.

Article LeviesThe author(s) will pay a flat fee of $1,800 to be invoiced once the article has been peer-reviewed.

The fee may be paid by cheque or credit card to Simon Fraser University. Please address as follows:

SubmissionsPlease upload draft manuscripts to the JEM website. Direct inquiries can be made to:Managing EditorJournal of Ecosystems and ManagementEmail: managing_editor@jem-online.org

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

I (we) affirm that the content of this manuscript has not been published elsewhere in a refereed journal save for an abstract of 200 words or less, or in the form of a scientific poster for presentation in a bona fide scientific meeting. If accepted, it will not be submitted elsewhere.

If this manuscript has been previously published in a refereed journal. I (we) guarantee that, permission has been or will be obtained from the author(s) and publisher for reproduction of this material, in whole or in part, in JEM, and I (we) will submit copy for the credit lines with the manuscript.

I (we) also guarantee that we have obtained a signed permission letter in respect of materials of others that have been incorporated into in my (our) manuscript.

The author(s) will receive no monetary return from JEM for the use of material contained in the manuscript.

The author(s) will pay a levy as specified below, to be invoiced upon acceptance after peer review. The levy is a flat rate of $1,800 for all articles: extension notes, perspectives, research reports or discussion papers with up to a maximum of 7 images (figures, tables, and/or photos).

Extension Notes and Perspectives:

1000–3000 words (maximum length: 10 pp)

Research Reports and Discussion Papers:

2000–3,500 words (maximum length: 11 pp)

If submitting to a peer-reviewed section of the journal, the instructions in Ensuring a Blind Review have been followed.

The text is double-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining; and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.

The submission file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word (.doc), or RTF (do not send docx files).

Where available, URLs for the references have been provided as well as access date [October 5, 2010].

Copyright Notice

Authors and the owners of copyright in the works will be required to either assign copyright, agree to co-own copyright, or assign a publication license in any works approved for publication by the Journal of Ecosystems and Management.